The group, which described the commission as stinking, said the probe should be thorough.

At a news briefing organised by the body in Port Harcourt, Rivers State capital, its National Leader, Prince Amatari Bipeledei, said the best thing President Buhari could do for the region was to sanitise the NDDC.

Bipeledei, who claimed his group carried out a preliminary investigation on the commission, said they backed decision of the Senate Committee on Public Account.

He said the committee, led by Senator Andy Uba, on October 26, directed the NDDC to, within seven days, submit evidence of 1,691 contracts awarded between 2014 and 2016.

The youth, who are in court with the NDDC over diversion funds meant for their empowerment, threatened to block the East-West Road and other federal roads, if the President failed to probe NDDC.

Bipeledei said: “On August 12, 2015, the Auditor-General of the Federation, Mr. Samuel Akura, submitted an audit report of N183.7 billion missing at the NDDC from 2008 to 2016. A breakdown of that report submitted to the National Assembly includes N70.4 billion unaccounted from the mobilisation of contractors that never reported to site, N5.8 billion paid to contractors for projects not executed or abandoned, N90.5 billion extra budgetary expenditure without approval, N1.2 billion un-deducted taxes from contractors, N10.07 billion to be refunded as tax deduction made without remittance to the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS).

“While N3.1 billion was transferred to unauthorised account and unaccountable staff advances of N1.7 billion, the response from the then board, led by Dan Abia, was that no money was missing. Our demand is that President Buhari must help this region to sanitise the commission.”